Unexpected
by SupremeMotherHen
Summary: Holly gets an unexpected visitor.
1. Chapter 1

There was knocking. Loud, incessant knocking. Holly thought is was a dream at first and decided to ignore it but when her cat, Gabrielle, sleepily tapped her on the nose, she knew going back to sleep was no longer an option.

Holly threw the covers off of her legs and rose from the bed like an ornery toddler. Or an ornery Gail. Well, just a Gail.

She caught a look at herself while passing her hallway mirror and decided that whoever was bothering her this early deserved her dried drool and wild hair. She just finished a twenty hour shift not even three hours ago and Holly couldn't have cared less about her vanity, at the moment, if she tried.

She really hoped it wasn't another Jehovah's Witness. Her Pentagram t-shirt was still in the hamper and her "Hail Satan" greeting wouldn't be complete without it.

Checking the peephole, Holly spotted a nervous looking person that looked vaguely familiar, but she's sure they hadn't met before. They didn't have a Bible or any pamphlets so that was a good sign. Maybe it was a new neighbor.

Finally feeling a little embarrassed by her walking dead appearance, Holly left the chain on and opened the door just enough to reveal her eyes to her visitor.

"Hello. How can I help you?" Holly's voice slipped in to its usual friendly tone. Regardless of the time, she did not have it in her to be rude to her visitor no matter how vicious she tried to be.

"I'm Alex." The visitor managed to croak out. "I am looking for a Hollister Stewart."

"Oh please don't call me that, I go by just Holly now." She cursed the genius that decided Hollister was a good idea.

"Sorry." Alex chuckled. It was painfully forced.

They stood there staring at each other. Holly, from behind the protection of her door and the heavy duty chain Gail installed a month prior, and Alex looked as though they was searching for God through her eyes. Holly was the first to break the silence.

"Can I help you with something, Alex?"

"Right, sorry." Alex stared for a few more seconds before they slid a manila folder through the crack of the door, to what was hopefully her hand.

Holly skimmed the file, finding something she hadn't expected to see ever again. She closed the door, quickly slid the chain off and opened it again.

"Come in."

"You don't have to." Alex told her. "I don't want to ambush you or anything."

"It's not problem," Holly insisted. "Let me freshen up really quick and we can have coffee or something. Do you like coffee? I have some donuts here too, if you want. You don't have a gluten allergy, do you?"

"I like coffee and no gluten allergy for me." Alex folded easily and decided to stay.

Holly guided Alex to living space. She threw the medical journals and notes, that littered her coffee table and chair, in the general direction of her bookshelf. Alex smiled at her behavior, happy that she was having this reaction and not slamming the door in their face or having a meltdown.

"I'll be right back." Holly sprinted up the steps before sprinting back down, a second later. "And if a cat comes down and looks like she wants to kill you, she doesn't. That's just her face." She sprinted back up the stairs, tripping on the top step. "I'm okay." She yelled back.

Alex stared at their surroundings. The condo was beautiful. There was hardwood flooring, granite counter tops and expensive looking furniture. The other wall was made of floor to ceiling windows, covered in almost regal looking curtains. The bookcase in the corner was a deep mahogany and the mounted television had to be at least 50 inches.

In less than five minutes, Holly returned looking a bit more alive than before. She went to put a pot of coffee on and plated some of the doughnuts that she had bought for Gail. She didn't take her eyes off of Alex. No wonder they looked familiar.

Holly placed the plate of doughnuts and two cups of coffee on to a tray. She took a deep breath and slowly walked back over to Alex. Once the coffee was dispersed and the doughnuts were eaten, they decided to stop ignoring the parade of elephants in the room.

"So, this is really happening." Holly said more than asked.

"Yep." Alex answered hesitantly.

"You're my brother."

"On paper, but I don't believe in the gender binary."

"You're my sibling."

"Yep." Alex answered again.

They sat, staring at each other, even ignoring a very grumpy Gail that stormed in. It wasn't until she had a doughnut stuffed in her mouth that Gail acknowledge the two figures in the sitting area.

"Hey," She stopped for a second, looking the two over. The resemblance was freaking her out a bit. "You two could be related." Gail told them with a mouth full of jelly doughnut.

"We are." Holly told her, not bothering to spare her girlfriend a glance.

"Shit." Was Gail's only response.

"Yeah." The siblings replied in unison.


	2. Chapter 2

It was quiet. Neither party knew what to say at this point. Alex hadn't exactly planned this far ahead for the meeting. Holly was still too shell-shocked to form words and Gail was just plain uncomfortable. She would have left but the way Holly's hands were shaking, let her know she needed support. And Gail did not trust this stranger.

Kitty Pride, Holly's cat, decide to break the ice by knocking over a vase filled with acrylic ice rocks, that was positioned on top of one of the many bookcases in the room. KP let out a violent hiss at the now broken vase and scampered up the steps, away from a Holly's scolding looks.

Gail acted first, jumping up to grab a broom from the utility closet while muttering rude things about the cat, though she secretly loved the little nuance. The movement knocked Alex and Holly back into reality. Alex let out a nervous chuckle which sent Holly in to a fit of laughter, that Alex followed.

Gail rushed back in to the room armed with a small broom and an even smaller dustpan. She found the pair sprawled across the neighboring couches with red faces and tears flowing in every direction. Honestly, they looked like a pair of stoners that shared a funny hallucination. More than that, she noticed that they were practically twins. Holly told her about the possibility of her having siblings but seeing someone that looked exactly like Holly, after two years of believing Holly had no family left, was jarring. Gail took on the task of cleaning up the mess while the two did whatever the hell they were doing. She was just happy it wasn't silent anymore.

Once the laughter subsided, the pair was noticeably less uncomfortable. They still stared at each other but their fear was replaced with curiosity. To be fair, it wasn't every day that you met a long lost sibling. Though some discomfort was gone, neither knew what to say. What do you ask a sibling you could barely remember existing?

"Can one of you say something?" Gail was the first to interrupt the staring contest. "Please? Because you're both freaking me out a bit." She had finished cleaning up the glass and was perched on the furthest arm of the couch Holly sat on.

"How did you find me?" Holly asked. Her curiosity finally won and forced her to ask the question that had been hanging in the air.

"The same way you found me, more or less." Alex gave her a knowing look. Holly blushed, immediately remembering what Alex was alluding to.

"What is our buddy here talking about?" Gail shifted closer to Holly, not liking this person's cryptic answers.

"Years ago—It was my second year working in the labs. It was the holiday season and I had taken the Christmas Eve shift so that my co-workers could be with their families. That year was especially hard for me though. In all the years before I had something to distract me. There was medical school, university, I had things to study for and at least there were always other kids in the foster homes. That year, I had started to settle— get in to a rhythm. I had just bought this place, I was getting accustomed to the work load and my personal life was comfortable. I wasn't dating and my friends were away but it was comfortable enough."

"Can you give me the spark notes, please?" Gail interrupted, tentatively.

"Long story short: I was really lonely and wished that I had a family to spend time with, so I did a little research." Holly glared in Gail's direction at the 'nerd' she heard her utter. "I put a sample of my blood in to CODIS. If a person related to me had a federal job, left DNA at a crime scene or committed a crime, I would get a hit on the database. There were two matches: one was an unclaimed sample from a crime scene and the other was from a person who, at the time, was incarcerated."

At the mention of incarceration, Gail became alert. She eyed Alex and not so subtly moved closer to Holly.

"Calm down, blondie. I broke in to an old friend's home to get back some of my belongings and cut myself on the way in." Alex raised their hands in surrender. "Nonviolent offender over here."

This did nothing to ease Gail's worries. Out of habit, she went to reach for her gun, forgetting that it was at home, in her safe. She chose to scoot even closer to Holly and level Alex with a glare.

"I never looked at the picture or the name." Holly added. "I wasn't sure I wanted to know. What if I found out my only family was a serial killer or a rapist? So I closed the file and never spoke of it. Mostly because it wasn't the most legal or ethically sound thing in the world."

"I was dating a lab technician about a year and a half ago. When I found out that CODIS was a real thing and not just something SVU made up, I asked her to run a test using my blood, hoping for the same thing. She found a Hollister Stewart but refused to tell me anything else. She said something about an invasion of privacy and it being illegal. I saw that a lab in Toronto had matched my DNA to something but I didn't put two and two together until I found out where you worked."

"Not that I'm one to talk but, at least I never shared my findings or ran tests for someone else."

"Yeah, a month after that I found out she was also an informant for a local mob ring." Alex chuckled at the thought. "Running tests for me was one of the most legal things ole' Alessia ever did with her job."

"Ouch." Holly chuckled too. "A crime mob ex-girlfriend gene must run in the family."

"Wait, what?" Gail chimed in. How had she never heard that story?

Alex took a second to really look around. Holly's place looked really expensive. Not "Million Dollar Listing" rich but she had done well for herself. Alex was happy to see that heir sister did well for herself. There was sense of pride at the fact that Holly hadn't continued their family's cycle of destruction.

"Can I take you out for dinner?" Holly asked, suddenly.

"Yeah." Alex replied immediately. They wanted to know everything about their little sister and would take any opportunity to do so.

"I'm coming along." Gail chimed in. She still didn't trust this Alex person and needed to make sure Holly was safe.

"As exciting as this is, I'm still dead on my feet. Why don't I pick you up at six and take you to my favorite Thai place. Do you like Thai? This could be a make-or-break sibling moment for us." Holly's statement was followed with an ugly yawn.

"I actually love Thai."

Alex wrote down their hotel information in Holly's phone and headed to the door. The pair stopped top look at each other again. There was no denying that they were blood.

"Either make-out or get out, this one needs sleep." Alex was out of the door before Gail realized how gross her comment was.

"You're an ass."

"I'm your ass. Now let's go get some beauty rest, we have a date later."


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't sleep." Holly mumbled the bit into Gail's shoulder.

Holly was truly tired from work but after all of the early morning excitement, she couldn't keep still. It wasn't every day that your long lost sibling showed up on your doorstep. Holly had spent a long time accepting the fact that there were bits of information that she would never know about her life. After all of the foster families and holidays spent alone, she had come to accept that she'd never spend one with her parents or the siblings she vaguely remembered, before they were split up. She had accepted that the family girl in her would have to lay dormant until she could build a family of her own. It was a sad truth but a truth nonetheless and Holly had been resigned to it all, until this morning.

"Just close your eyes and let exhaustion take you away."

Gail smoothed her finger tips over Holly's eyelids, shutting them. Holly began to bat Gail's hand away but was pulled into a headlock.

"Honey." Holly said sweetly, "Please don't forget that I'm stronger than you. Police training be damned, I can deadlift you. You know what happened last time."

The memory of that Lab Rats v. Robocops Fight Night must have resurfaced on Gail because she promptly let go of Holly's head.

"I know you're anxious and excited and likely even scared, but you need some sleep. I don't think keeling over at dinner is going to leave the greatest impression on your brother—sibling. I have to get used to that before tonight, don't want to scare anyone off with my ignorance."

"Please."Holly scoffed. "You love scaring people off with your ignorance, among other things. What's wrong?"

Holly pulled herself up into a sitting position. She leaned against headboard and fixed Gail with one of her inquisitive stares. Gail pulled herself up as well and became very interested with the chipped nail on her left hand. Policing had become an absolute hell on her manicure bill.

"Gail." Holly whined.

"Fine!" Gail huffed out in annoyance. "I'm just a little nervous."

"Honey, you're the most awesomest girl ever, why so nervous? Afraid of a 'Meet the Parents' type debacle tonight? Hopefully no one is named Gaylord."

"I'm not really nervous for me. I know you're scared. Even though we don't talk about your family or what you remember of them, I know you're afraid of tonight. The fact that you don't talk about your family let's me know that, really. You're always open and honest with me—it's kind of annoying actually—but when it comes to them, you shut down and you just get really quiet and mopey for a while. What if tonight doesn't live up to your hopes and expectations? What if it does? What if it makes you really happy? What if it makes you really sad? There are a lot of 'what ifs' here and I don't want to do anything wrong by being my usual rude self. Besides, I'm sure you're the only Gaylord in this family."

"You're really thinking about this."

Holly rolled her eyes.

"Don't be little shit, Hollister."

"I'm not and if you ever want to have sex again, you won't call me that name anymore."

"Yes you are being a little shit, Holly. You do that when I'm the one making sense and you don't want to admit it. And please don't make me get all mushy with the 'if it hurts you it hurts me' bullshit or how I just want you to get all the answers you never had and all that sentimental, lovey dovey crap. Don't make me be sweet, Holly. I won't stand for it."

"Ew. You're being level-headed and loving. Make it stop."

"Holly, I'm serious."

Holly sunk down into the bed. She curled around her pillow and sighed.

"I know, honey. And you're right actually." Holly rolled her eyes at Gail's triumphant smirk. "I am scared. I gave up hope a long time ago and now I may get some of the answers I wanted. What if they just didn't want me? And I'm pretty sure I had an older sister, too, where is she?"

"Nope. Don't think about any of that." Gail wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. "Get some sleep first and we can make decisions later. This is a lot to take on, do it when you're at least wwell rested."

"Fine." Holly pulled Gail in, even closer. "I hate it when you have to talk me down, that's supposed to be my job."

"Sorry to break it to you nerd but, its okay to be the one that needs me sometimes. And I love you so 'll be here to talk you down whenever you need it. You're stuck with me now."

"Love you too."

Holly burrowed into her girlfriends neck, giving it a little kiss. She wasn't sure how this dinner was going to go; it could be one of the happiest moments of her life or it could end in even more heartbreak. At least she had her sometimes rational but always loving girlfriend by her side.

A wet spot on her shoulder drew Gail back into consciousness. She wasn't really sure when she had drifted off to sleep in the first place. She turned to find Holly sound asleep on her shoulder, with drool seeping from her mouth, making a rather large wet spot on Gail's sleep shirt.

"Gross." Gail mumbled while grabbing her phone to take a picture of the scene. Perfect blackmail material.

Gail checked the time when she was finished snapping Holly from various angles; 2hours before they had to get up. Gail, carefully wiped the drool from around Holly's mouth and rolled her over onto her pillow. She pulled the wet sleep shirt off and curled herself back around Holly, finally getting the big spoon spot.

"Too tired." Holly mumbled into her pillow.

"What?"

"Too tired for sex."

"Stuff it, Stewart. I had to get rid of the shirt since you decided to leak your Holly juices on it. I could go put a shirt on if you want."

"You wish I was leaking my Holly juices on it."

With that Holly turned back into her girlfriend and nuzzled Gail's bare chest. She gave them a little kiss and hummed appreciatively before quickly drifting back off to sleep.

"My getting topless is what sends you to sleep? I'm hurt, Holly. Really cuts deep."

Holly, sleepily, covered Gail's mouth with her hand.

"Shut up." She mumbled.

Gail removes the hand and pulls Holly's arm around her waist. She checks to make sure her boobs aren't smothering her girlfriend before closing her own eyes, again.


End file.
